Is the Game Really Over?

by Ron Jacobs / January 30th, 2011

As I write this on January 29, 2011, there are a couple of Brits on Al-Jazeera speculating as to whether or not the Egyptian military will support the ongoing protests against the Mubarak regime or if they will shoot them. Meanwhile, the live video feed is broadcasting protests across the nation. The old Mubarak cabinet has been dismissed and one assumes a new one is being assembled. A tighter curfew has come into effect across the nation. Yet everyone is ignoring it. Furthermore, a coalition of Egyptian left and working class organizations has called for a general strike against the regime, while the major Islamist opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has called for a peaceful transfer of power. Someone who might be among Washington’s favorite men in the opposition, Mohammed El-Baradei, is under house arrest and has called Mubarak’s actions “not enough.” More protesters were killed by the security police earlier today, while the military rank and file remain non-committal. Major clerics are reminding their faithful that the shedding of blood is prohibited under Islam. As I watch the video, a noticeable difference in today’s crowd is the growing presence of women.

According to a report published by Reuters on July 13, 2009, 77 million of the 80 million Egyptians live on less than $1 a day. Around 30% of the workforce is unemployed, 7% of children miss schools because of poverty. There are over 100,000 homeless youth. Egypt’s official foreign debt is around 12 billion dollars, yet several of Mubarak’s corrupt ruling elites have stolen almost half this amount from Egyptian banks. These facts, along with the record of abuse by police forces defy Washington’s statement that it is “not too late” for the Mubarak regime to reform itself and become a democratic government. This statement is comparable to the Carter administration’s support of the Shah of Iran in 1978 and 1979 while street protests that eventually included close to 10% of the Iranian population rocked the nation.

Although there are a number of major differences between the Iranian revolution and the current situation in Egypt — with the primary one possibly being the national differences — the fact is that popular uprisings are exactly that no matter where they occur. That being said, and with the understanding that all sides in Egypt are aware of history, if the process underway continues, two things to watch out for are the response to the general strike call and whether or not Mubarak is able to woo any leading elements of the opposition into his sphere. If the general strike response is massive, than one can expect to see Mubarak either forcefully crack down on the protests (if he can find any security units to go along with him) or invite someone like El-Baradei into his government.

Of course, if the latter occurs, El Baradei runs the risk of losing whatever support he has amongst the protesters. If that happens (and using the Iranian experience as a template), then the way for more extreme religious elements opens wider. If El-Baradei and other more moderate elements refuse to accept any offers of reconciliation from Mubarak, then it would seem the only means that would remain for Mubarak would be resignation or repression. His appointment of the current head of Egyptian intelligence to the vice presidency seems to indicate he may very well choose the latter. While appointments with little meaning are being made by Mubarak, thugs from his ruling party have been captured by Cairo residents breaking into homes and shops in that city’s wealthier sections. In response, Egyptians citizens have begun to set up neighborhood watch committees.

One of the Egyptian movement groups not talked about very much in the west is Kefaya or the Egyptian Movement for Change. This group, which was announced in 2004, is a network of (mostly youthful) opposition groups and individuals from across the ideological spectrum with the primary goal of ending the Mubarak family rule. Its role in the current rebellion is publicly unannounced, but the fact that the protests seems to have begun in the universities and amongst Egyptian youth tends to encourage the supposition that Kefaya was instrumental in organizing them. Given the recent rebellions and revolutions across the Arab world, perhaps the synthesis represented by this movement is the wave of an Arab future.

If so, then the regimes in Yemen, Jordan and other Arab nations would be smart to initiate reforms sooner rather than later. That is, unless it is already too late. As for Palestine, its administrative forces should pay close attention. Not only might they lose whatever authority they have left among the Palestinians, but the fact of an Arab world composed of popular governments has got to be one that Israel fears. After all, it is the US-sponsored regimes like Mubarak’s that have been essential to Tel Aviv projecting its expansionist policies across the region. For Mahmoud Abbas to express his support for Mubarak while the streets of Egypt are filled with protesters demanding his resignation is extremely shortsighted. Furthermore, it looks like a political calculation Abbas and the Palestinian Authority can ill afford to make given the recent Wikileaks cable releases revealing the PA’s willingness to concede to Israeli demands many Palestinians consider at best anathema to Palestinian national interests.

Ignoring governments for the moment, what do these protests mean for people around the world? As virtually any earthling knows, the past decade has seen an increase in economic disparity and political repression in almost every nation. From New York to Cairo; from Beijing to Buenos Aires, the neoliberal world order (or monopoly capitalism’s latest phase) is feeling the effects of its greedy attempts to privatize the very basics of human survival. The legal and illegal corruption these attempts, and the poverty they have spawned, have been felt the deepest in nations like Tunisia and Egypt.

Despotic government officials, their national and international business partners and the security forces that protect them have robbed and brutalized whole societies. All the while, those governments in the global north and west that have backed this phenomenon have, in turn, removed freedoms and economic security from large swaths of their own populations. Consequently, many nations have seen popular uprisings against these governmental actions, especially from their student and working class elements. But only two populations have reached the point of no return to the past: Tunisia and Egypt. Their example serves as a beacon.

protests cannot work in modern times. i mean, bring on a governance that wld honestly strive to evolve ever more an egalitarian society.

u.s. wld mightily oppose any such endeavor. egypt needs first of all a chavez.
and protest only thereafter against u.s. interference and/or domestic fascists-clergy grip on power.
if such an evil soyuz wld continue to work for ever greater inequality or thwart any change for better, a very-well lead protest wld be of some use.
what the army thinks is of the utmost import.

it wldn’t be only be u.s. who’d thwart any governance with a human face– one cld expect entire europe to join u.s. and clerico-noble class of egypt.
of course, ‘zionism’, a peculiar form of worst fascism, wld side with u.s. and egyptian fascists.
thus i expect that leaderless and seemingly an ad hoc protest cannot do any good.
tnx

jacobs:
“As for Palestine, its administrative forces should pay close attention.”

they have paid attention. for at least a decade. and have armed selves against mostly own people.
palestinian leadership is safe as long as it doesn’t start building a better society.
if they stay on course: maintaining or augmenting master-serf structure, they got nothing to fear.
this analyses is valid for all countries where some people r masters of work, wars, people, ‘education’, disinformation, etc., and not just for arab lands. tnx

mary,
PA commands an army-police force. it is armed but not with tanks, jets, warships, etc.
i do not know for sure who armed WB police force. this force controls domestics as demanded by u.s., nato, israel or i at least believe this is the case.
when gaza had been raided, this force had not, as far as know, fired a shot at israelis.
if my memory serves, pal’ns in WB have not in any numbers protested israel’s criminal behavior towards other pal’ns.
PA had also, seems, to some degree approbated gaza raid.

i am not leading anyone to make any conclusion. particularly not to a conclusion that PA wld sign away an inch of pal’n land or wld not shoot at own people if these misbehaved.

i am not going to read PA minds in order to make any conclusion why PA is policing own people and using arms as a threat for them to behave.
i hope this clarifies “using weapons against own people”! the quoted statement, now note, was overly terse and cld have lead to unwanted conclusions. tnx

mary,
yes, nato wld wage war against any egyp’n govt that wld interfere with passage of ships thru suez canal.
i also expect that if present fascist or supremacistic gvt wld be replaced by a chavez-like governance and govt, it, too, may get destabilized, attacked militarily even if it wld not block suez canal.
i just cannot see that fascists, which r uniting like never before, wld permit rise of any society with human face!
it is over-roseate to expect that mafia wld allow a nonmafioso organization to take over any part of the world. tnx

How the PA security apparatus was set up. Extract from The Palestine Papers Guardian {http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/25/mi6-palestinian-papers-rejectionists-plan}

Blair is very proud of it and takes credit for his part in its creation.

‘The former MI6 officer Alistair Crooke, who worked for the EU in Israel and the Palestinian territories, said today that the documents reflected a 2003 decision by Tony Blair to tie UK and EU security policy in the West Bank and Gaza to a US-led “counter-insurgency surge” against Hamas – which backfired when the Islamists won the 2006 elections.

The CIA played the central role in building up PA security forces from the late 1990s, in close co-operation with the Israeli military and intelligence, detailed in the leaked documents. But particularly after the killing of three US officials in the Gaza strip in 2003, British forces played an increasingly active role – though always in close co-operation with their counterpart US agency, according to diplomatic sources.

The sequence of leaked British documents begins with an unmarked but detailed MI6 draft of the security plan, faxed from the Egyptian embassy, at a time when the agency was working closely with Egyptian intelligence; continues with the second more formal paper jointly drafted by SIS, which floats internment; and is then translated into a series of official papers drafted by the Jerusalem consulate’s military liaison office, which liaises with British special forces, the SAS and SBS.

The documents confirm that by 2005, British projects under the Palestinian security plan – first drafted and passed to the PA under MI6 auspices – included extensive funding of the most controversial parts of the PA security apparatus, including general intelligence, special forces and preventive security under the heading of “UK-Palestinian projects”.

The last in particular has been the subject of repeated and widespread allegations and evidence of torture, including by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. More recently, the British government has denied directly funding the PA’s preventive security.

US general Keith Dayton, who, along with a string of British deputies was in charge of building up Palestinian security forces as US security co-ordinator for Israel and the Palestinian territories until last October, is recorded in the leaked Palestinian records as complaining about torture by PA intelligence in a meeting with chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat in June 2009. “The intelligence guys are good. The Israelis like them,” Dayton says. “But they are causing some problems for international donors because they are torturing people”, adding: “I’ve only started working on this very recently. I don’t need to tell you who was working with them before” – in an apparent reference to the CIA.

In an interview with al-Jazeera, former Dayton deputy US colonel Phillip Dermer described the PA as constituting a “police state” and its security forces as an outsourced “third Israeli security arm”.’

I guess this article is a decent play-by-play but to me it appears too sanitized and lacks political depth and critique — especially about the role of Zionism and its effects on the Egyptian people. Recall for many years before Sadat’s sellout, Egypt was the hub of the Arab front and resistance to Western Imperialism and Zionism.

Therefore, the situation in Egypt cannot be explained away in merely economic terms as Ron summary toward the end of his article implies like that of Greece and Ireland. Mubarak’s ability to remain in power has led to the impoverishment of Egyptians was primary based on his cowtowing to the interest of Zionism carried out via the United States. In other words we are not taking about bad banking practices here.

If the general strike response is massive, than one can expect to see Mubarak either forcefully crack down on the protests (if he can find any security units to go along with him) or invite someone like El-Baradei into his government. Of course, if the latter occurs, El Baradei runs the risk of losing whatever support he has amongst the protesters. If that happens (and using the Iranian experience as a template), then the way for more extreme religious elements opens wider.

Or another possibility is that what opens wider is the possibility of Arab leaders who are not willing to be subservient to the interests of Zionism and willing to restore the once Arab pride that stood up against Zionism and Western Imperialism. This Ron’s use of “extremism” is ambiguous especially if that “extremism” stands against Zionist injustice and self determination of the Egyptian people.

I also don’t understand why is Ron “warning” us of the Iranian “template”. I don’t know if Ron is aware that according to the CIA, Iran fairs better on the equality index than the United States which would indicate an improvement of the conditions in Iran since the fall of the brutal quisling — the Shah of Iran.

I would think that as a leftist Ron would be inspired and delighted. Should a regime that takes over Egypt restore Arab pride they will tear down the barrier that separates Gaza from Egypt and permit the Gazan to obtain needed resources as well as ARMS to defend themselves from the brutal Zionists that entraps them.

Ron then writes …

If so, then the regimes in Yemen, Jordan and other Arab nations would be smart to initiate reforms sooner rather than later.

Why should Ron suggest that these regimes embrace “reforms”? Is not the problem that these regimes are corrupted by their complicity to Zionism and Western imperialism? I assume the advocacy to be for the removal of these Zionist quislings. We should support and advocate the liberation and self-determination of the citizens of these nations rather than imply continuity of the Zionist agenda by buying off the citizens through “reforms”.

IMO part of what we are witnessing in Egypt is stripping bear the rhetoric that U.S. policy in the Middle East was about oil that we’ve been lead to believe from Chomskyites and the pseudo-Left. It’s been clearly about the Zionist agenda carried out via U.S. politicians cowed by Jewish Zionist power. The “game” that is may be ending as far as I see it is the facade of pseudo-Left’s as the Egypt street throw off the yoke of Zionist tyranny.

Also why the interest surrounding El Baradei? I never saw El Baradei call for inspecting Israel nukes. El Baradei IMO was a useful servant for pro-Zionist imperialism that destroyed Iraq and forced sanction upon Iran. IMO the desire to label El Baradei a “moderate” is a last ditch effort for yet another quisling to maintain continuity of Zionist influence over Egypt and the Arab world.

The Left is swift to inform us that Egypt is the 2nd largest recipient of U.S. “aid” but those bribes would have never been paid and Mubarak ability to remain in power would have never occurred if he stood against Zionism. In other words this money is really part of the money stolen from U.S. taxpayers to support a racist-Zionist entity. As a Leftist I want to see this end. Therefore it is not the “banks” that IMPOVERISHED and humiliated the Egyptian people. It has been Egyptian mis-leaders service to protect and further the aims of Zionism.

In his day, Nasser only had Moscow for support but this is 2010. There are new global alignments and realities that have to be taken into account that help to strengthen the Egyptian people’s efforts. The new global reality will benefit Egypt’s breaking away from the strangling of the Zionist embrace.

Such a break will enable Egypt to expand its relationship with China, Russia, Brazil, India, Gaza, Iran and isolate Israel. Clearly the Suez Canal is of strategic importance but since the U.S. has allowed Zionism to control her politics the result will be isolation. It’s time for U.S. citizens to realize how they’ve been duped by the Chomskyites and the pseudo-Left whose real agenda is the furtherance of the racist goals of Zionism at the expense of U.S. national interest and integration with the rest of the world. Such acknowledgment would reduce tension rather than keep the United States tied to a racist pariah entity.

Deadbeat misses several of my points. Most importantly, he misses the fact that I am inspired by the uprising. That’s why I state “Their example serves as a beacon. ” As for the Iranian template–what I am referring to is the hijacking of the Iranian revolution by clerics and capitalists in the Iranian ruling class and those elements imprisoning, forcing into exile and killing their less religious and more leftist fellows. Reforms only serve the Zionists if they are undertaken in the spirit of serving the Zionists.
My article is not calling for reforms instead of revolution–it is merely acknowledging that if the ruling classes of the countries mentioned don’t want to face what Tunisia’s ruling class is facing, it would be savvy for them to do something besides clamping down harder on their people.
Revolution will come when it is time. If one knows history, they will see
that this is often the case, no matter what reforms occurred prior to the moment of revolution.
Regarding the use of the word “extreme.” It is meant here in regards to those who would use their religion to restrict the lives of others, most often women. Solidarity against the Israeli expansionists does not mean always agreeing with every belief or doctrine of those whom we occasionally find ourselves in solidarity with.
What about El Baradei? I do not necessarily support El Baradei (not that i matters what we think anyhow–this is up to the Egyptian people), but mention him because he may very well be the individual whose presence at the helm (even temporarily) may convince Mubarak and his henchmen to leave and prevent a bloodletting most people do not want to see.

Back to Zionism for a minute–while it is clear that Mubarak is/was a collaborator with the Zionists, a key reason for his collaboration are the billions of dollars in aid and trade his collaboration provided. I do not disagree with deadbeat regarding that, but continue to insist that it is economics which provides the essential explanation for the current crisis–in Egypt and everywhere else.

“It’s time for U.S. citizens to realize how they’ve been duped by the Chomskyites and the pseudo-Left whose real agenda is the furtherance of the racist goals of Zionism at the expense of U.S. national interest and integration with the rest of the world.”

Most Americans have never heard of Chomsky. Secondly, the “pseudo-left” doesn’t even have any real influence on the Democrats.

{As for the Iranian template–what I am referring to is the hijacking of the Iranian revolution by clerics and capitalists in the Iranian ruling class and those elements imprisoning, forcing into exile and killing their less religious and more leftist fellows.}

Ron: you certainly have very little knowledge about Iranian left. Name the leftist organizations where had a plan to form government? Name a leftist organization who were accepted by many Iranians before and after the revolution.
Are you talking about ‘ the Organization of Iranian People’s Fadaian’ who were around 50 young, inexperience, illiterate people at the time of the revolution where grew overnight after the revolution ?
If you follow Iranian leftist criticas today you will notice that the majority of them have admited that they had no plan, no unity, no experience at the time of revolution to let any kind of government.

Today, majority of ‘Fadaian’ are living abroad and planning for a comfortable retirement abroad and some of them are in the pocket of Zionism and imperialism, like Farrokh Negadar, Khanbaba Tehrani, Maryam Namazi – who is spokesperson of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain- part of the Islamophobia industry.

Are you talking about the worker-communist Party where Maryam Namazie is a member? The worker-communist Party, many believe, is in the pocket of Mossad/CIA and MI6. Majority of the Iranian ‘leftists’ have accepted neoliberal economic arrangement not socialist economic arrangement, including Mashayekhi, Negadar, and others, they have NO CREDIBILTY.

I hope you are not talking about the terrorist organization, MEK, where are in the service of Israel. Now, the Zionists pro Israel is trying hard to take their name off the TERRORIST list of state Department. You can watch the following video to see which Zionist stooges is SUPPORTING MEK, the terrorists.

{http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/297619-1&showFullAbstract=1}

The speakers in the video are engaged in lying and propaganda to buy credibility for A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION MEK where has accepted ‘holocaust’ as their religion to please the Zionist expansionists.
Many people, including the leftist themselves, know that they had no ability to run the state after the revolution. To say “the hijacking of the Iranian revolution by clerics” is further from the TRUTH.
These Zionist liars in the above video have reached a NEW LEVEL OF VULGARITY when they present MEK TRAITORS as Iran ‘opposition’. I must tell these Zionist liars, get lost.

MEK’s name has been removed from the terrorist list in Britain and EU. Majority of the Iranian people believe that the latest series of assassinations were carried out by Mujahedeen. These Zionist stooges want to reward MEK, a terrorist organization, to bring ‘regime change’. They will take this WISH into their GRAVES.
Hillary Rotten Clinton will honor the demand of the Judeofascits to remove MEK from the state Department terrorist list.
Michael Mukasey, former attorney General in his talk that Mujahedeen were involved in the terrorist act after the Iranian election ‘fraud’ HOAX. The Iranian people do not need your help. If you want to help Iranian people remove all the illegal sanctions. You are nothing but liars. We defend our government from the Zionist stooges and their servant, the terrorist MEK.

Back to Zionism for a minute–while it is clear that Mubarak is/was a collaborator with the Zionists, a key reason for his collaboration are the billions of dollars in aid and trade his collaboration provided. I do not disagree with deadbeat regarding that, but continue to insist that it is economics which provides the essential explanation for the current crisis–in Egypt and everywhere else.

I disagree with Ron with what is essentially an economic argument and his attempts to downplay these events as merely an outcry for milk and honey. It is clear that the nature of the protests growing in Egypt are now involving people from all walks of life — not just the impoverished. If this was primarily economics, you really wouldn’t see the middle classes involve. This is primarily what is holding back Americans from such an outpouring. The American people still consider themselves “middle class”.

My point is that there is MORE to what’s going on in Egypt than “economics”. In other words what Ron misses as the primary aspect that has RETARDED economic development in Egypt — Zionist influence.

My argument is that even if the billions that Mubarak received was distributed among the Egyptian citizenry and Mubarak remained a Zionist quisling the outpouring would still be just as massive. Not even money can suppress the desire for self-determination.

What Ron fails to consider is the framework of racism because the American Left had denied for so long that Zionism IS racist. A racist entity like Israel will NOT tolerate an economic equal. Thus part of the bribe to Egypt was not just to maintain “peace with Israel” but to RETARD Arab economic development. That is the only outcome tolerated by RACISTS. Ron’s failure to analyze Egypt’s economic condition from a supremacist perspective is why Ron’s explanation of events are bland and sanitized. If he was talking about Blacks, I can assure you Ron analysis would be much broader than a bland economic explanation. His analysis would certainly be much deeper and include RACISM. Thus Ron confining the events in Egypt to economics is INSUFFICIENT to explain the overwhelming support across conflicting class sectors in Egypt.

Here is another analysis from an article on Information Clearing House…

The likely winner of a genuinely free Egyptian election, according to most opinion polls, would be the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brothers are not particularly radical as Islamists go, but the first thing they have promised to do if they win power is to hold a referendum on Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. And most Egyptians, according to the same polls, would vote to cancel it.

Again if this was primarily economic, there would be NO call for the cancellation of the “Peace Treaty” with Israel. In other words the IMPOVERISHMENT and RETARDATION of Egypt’s economic development is the result of Zionism.

Clearly this is a very difficult reality for the American Left to face especially since they’ve been deceiving themselves and their followers for decades telling activists that the United States involvement in the Middle East was for oil and resources rather than her subservience to Zionism.

Listen to the MSM Ron very much influenced by Zionism. Their main concern is whether continuity of Egypt’s subservience to Zionism (aka the peace treaty with Israel) that has totally demoralized and humiliated Arabs and has allowed Israel to run roughshod over the Palestinians — especially Gaza — is maintained.

IMO the best thing that can happen to Egypt is to restore her once Arab pride, self-determination and nationalism that made it a Middle-East leader. The BRICs are standing by to embrace Egypt’s break from Western Imperialism and Zionism. Should that happen, wherever Nasser is I’m sure he is smiling.

Back to Zionism for a minute–while it is clear that Mubarak is/was a collaborator with the Zionists, a key reason for his collaboration are the billions of dollars in aid and trade his collaboration provided. I do not disagree with deadbeat regarding that, but continue to insist that it is economics which provides the essential explanation for the current crisis–in Egypt and everywhere else.

I disagree with Ron with what is essentially an economic argument and his attempts to downplay these events as merely an outcry for milk and honey. It is clear that the nature of the protests growing in Egypt are now involving people from all walks of life — not just the impoverished. If this was primarily economics, you really wouldn’t see the middle classes involve. This is primarily what is holding back Americans from such an outpouring. The American people still consider themselves “middle class”.

My point is that there is MORE to what’s going on in Egypt than “economics”. In other words what Ron misses as the primary aspect that has RETARDED economic development in Egypt — Zionist influence.

My argument is that even if the billions that Mubarak received was distributed among the Egyptian citizenry and Mubarak remained a Zionist quisling the outpouring would still be just as massive. Not even money can suppress the desire for self-determination.

What Ron fails to consider is the framework of racism because the American Left had denied for so long that Zionism IS racist. A racist entity like Israel will NOT tolerate an economic equal. Thus part of the bribe to Egypt was not just to maintain “peace with Israel” but to RETARD Arab economic development. That is the only outcome tolerated by RACISTS. Ron’s failure to analyze Egypt’s economic condition from a supremacist perspective is why Ron’s explanation of events are bland and sanitized. If he was talking about Blacks, I can assure you Ron analysis would be much broader than a bland economic explanation. His analysis would certainly be much deeper and include RACISM. Thus Ron confining the events in Egypt to economics is INSUFFICIENT to explain the overwhelming support across conflicting class sectors in Egypt.

Here is another analysis from an article on Information Clearing House…

The likely winner of a genuinely free Egyptian election, according to most opinion polls, would be the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brothers are not particularly radical as Islamists go, but the first thing they have promised to do if they win power is to hold a referendum on Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. And most Egyptians, according to the same polls, would vote to cancel it.

Again if this was primarily economic, there would be NO call for the cancellation of the “Peace Treaty” with Israel. In other words the IMPOVERISHMENT and RETARDATION of Egypt’s economic development is the result of Zionism.

Clearly this is a very difficult reality for the American Left to face especially since they’ve been deceiving themselves and their followers for decades telling activists that the United States involvement in the Middle East was for oil and resources rather than her subservience to Zionism.

Listen to the MSM Ron very much influenced by Zionism. Their main concern is whether continuity of Egypt’s subservience to Zionism (aka the peace treaty with Israel) that has totally demoralized and humiliated Arabs and has allowed Israel to run roughshod over the Palestinians — especially Gaza — is maintained.

IMO the best thing that can happen to Egypt is to restore her once Arab pride, self-determination and nationalism that made it a Middle-East leader. The BRICs are standing by to embrace Egypt’s break from Western Imperialism and Zionism. Should that happen, wherever Nasser is I’m sure he is smiling.

Keep your comments to an appropriate length (certainly NOT longer than the article you’re commenting on), stay on topic, and if you wish to point readers to an article elsewhere, simply introduce it and provide the link. Do not copy the entire article.

Failure to abide by these simple rules will result in your posts being deleted.

I refuse to get into another debate with deadbeat about zionism and its role in world events. i remain convinced that zionism is a tool of imperialism and not the other way around. as for shabnam’s remarks concerning the iranian left of the 1970s and early years of the revolution–perhaps your history books are missing a few chapters. the left was essential to the revolution. Khomeini and his group knew that the left was crucial and made certain that it composed a good portion of the early revolutionary government. there were workers’ councils running the oil industry and councils in the universities as well as the urban neighborhoods. however, due to repression and a misunderstanding of the meaning of the populist elements influenced by religion (among other things) they dissipated and the clerics acceded to power.

i worked closely with many leftists in 1977 and 1978 in actions against the shah. most of those folks went back to iran after the shah left. some of them died in prisons in the early years of the revolution.

‘Most Americans have never heard of Chomsky. Secondly, the “pseudo-left” doesn’t even have any real influence on the Democrats’ say ‘catguy00′. Deadbeat didn’t say ‘Chomsky’ he said ‘Chomskyites’. Most left-leaning Americans have heard of popular defenders of Chomskyite politics like Amy Goodman and Michael Moore. They carefully lead people around the Palestine issue, and are an important factor in the reason why the most powerful country on earth supports Israeli war crimes. They certainly influence the Dems.

Ron Jacobs ‘remains convinced that Zionism is a tool of imperialism and not the other way around’. Is he familiar with Jeff Blankfort’s critique of this position? Has Jacobs, unlike Chomsky, answered Blankfort? Or is he, like Chomsky, in wilful denial?

If Zionism is a tool of US imperialism, why does it need the most powerful lobby in the world to convince imperialism what a useful tool it is? When a Tea Party leader calls for an end to aid to Israel, is he anti-imperialist? Or is he too dumb to realise imperialism’s interests? When the right outflanks the left on this question, the left needs to ask why.

rehmat,
i read truthdig, ICH, D.V. and don’t find more than 0ne% of contributors/posters who promote egalitarianism, timo-pantisocracy or evaluate ‘religion’ as one of the chief stumbling blocks in achieving even modest fairness in so many lands.

and even u focus on zionistic influence, but do not espy that, to me, ‘religions’ and their ‘sciences’ r by far more an enemy of fishers, tillers, housepeople than landrobbers-murderers, aka, zionists.

shah, i think, did not run away because of public protest solely, but because also ‘religion’ protested; along the army and spies.
nevertheless, iranian theo-noble rulers still want to stone people to death; thwart pantisocracy, etc.
misevaluation of ‘zionist control’ in the West arises solely because people [un]wittingly use yet another misevaluation: that of comparing an apple with banana.
on descriptive level, a land robber-murderer-expeller, such as one in palestina, may be compared with a land robber-murderer-expeller in bosnia or in apache land.
thus, no differences arise in kind, only in degree-time between land robbers-etc. tnx

There is actually an interesting debate going on here instead of the usual hasbara wind-up insult and spam fests. Why try to shut it down?

Ron Jacobs

“i remain convinced that zionism is a tool of imperialism and not the other way around.”

I don’t believe either is a tool of the other. They part of the same process. In fact, much like imperialism and nazism are. The philosophy behind zionism is that of an elitist imperialism involving ethnic, cultural and religious bigotry, besides the usual oligarchic capitalist based manure. Zionism is a form of imperialism where power is based upon more than simply class and wealth, it’s also upon ethnicity and religious background. This makes the oppression worse and more callus. Zinism is one step beyond, like the confederate slavocracy.

The Arab world has born the brunt of israeli/zionist oppression for several generations now. There is little doubt among everyday people that zionism/israel are opposed to their very existence and that israel would have simply killed all the non-Jews in the region for their lebensraum if they could have. The ordinary people see their leaders suck up to this racist state while they hold the masses down. They see their oppression as the result of western countries siding with israel against them and working to keep them powerless and weak so israel can be lord and master.

however, american, french, italian, serb, russian imperialism is also a religious demand.
not that any priest, rabbi, and mullah wld ever say this or even evaluate as true.
they prefer to run for cover under the word “god”.
strange, but that’s all– just a childish and stupid word “god”.
their ‘gods’ allow everything! tnx

I don’t believe either is a tool of the other. They part of the same process. In fact, much like imperialism and nazism are. The philosophy behind zionism is that of an elitist imperialism involving ethnic, cultural and religious bigotry, besides the usual oligarchic capitalist based manure. Zionism is a form of imperialism where power is based upon more than simply class and wealth, it’s also upon ethnicity and religious background. This makes the oppression worse and more callus. Zionism is one step beyond, like the confederate slavocracy.

Exactly! This is why the economic explanation is a diversion. The fullness of analysis must involved both Capitalism and Zionism.

I am sorry to miss your comment.
Maryam Namazie is an imposter and is in the service of the intelligence services of the west. She is an Islamophobe and cooperates with stooges of the right wing in the service of Israel like Hersi Ali, Bernard Henri Levi, Shahlah Shafiq and Ibn Warraq, an Indian neocon who was trying to discredit Edward Said and his work, orientalism.

Namazie as a ‘communist’ works with other Zionist ‘leftists’ who supported Iraq war and now Iran war to benefit of Israel, like Harry’s Place.
{http://hurryupharry.org/2008/12/01/one-law-for-all/}
{http://www.workersliberty.org/node/5733}

She spreads lies about ‘stoning’ in Iran. They produce FAKE poster to fool Western population like the following poster:

{http://thesugarbeetbhoy.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/one-law-for-all-rally/}
As the following link shows, Maryam Namazie and her associates ARE LIARS.
{http://www.inminds.co.uk/article.php?id=10214}

Please watch the following videos to see what kind of phony ‘left’ this person is. She is an imposter like Bernard Henri Levy.
{http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/videos-seminar-on-enemies-not-allies/}